Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Author of Pot Law Downplays War on Weed

The author
of Washington's new legal pot law said that there is really nothing new about 8
former DEA chiefs' demands to nullify the new pot laws in both Colorado and
Washington. Alison Holcomb said that these are the same arguments that she has
been hearing for years and some are accusing these DEA chiefs of irrelevant
meddling in the state's affairs. While these arguments may be nothing new, a
bigger issue looms on the horizon for these two states: how to respond to legal
marijuana for adult recreational use.

According to
the federal government, marijuana is a dangerous and illegal drug that has no
medicinal value and should not be used either recreationally or medicinally. In
addition, a United Nations drug agency recently urged the U.S. to fight
legalizing marijuana in these states because it directly violated international
drug treaties.

If the
federal government tries to challenge Washington's legal pot law, then State
Attorney General Bob Ferguson said that he is ready to fight and respond
legally.

"I understand their perspective,
but my job as lawyer for the state is to uphold Initiative 502 and that's what
I intend to do."

--Washington
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson

For now,
legislators and Washington residents await U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's
decision on how the federal government will respond to adults who choose to use
legal marijuana recreationally. His decision is imminent and is expected to be
announced sometime this month.